Digital Addictions: Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment, Including Digital Interventions

The widespread adoption of digital technologies is changing the way people communicate, work and access information. This landscape is shaping and building new forms of social interaction and identity with variable effects on mental health and wellbeing.

The emphasis on personal autonomy and self-expression is becoming more pronounced, as individuals seek to assert their identity and differentiate themselves from others in a rapidly changing and fragmented world.

Whereas technology is developing disproportionately, new psychopathological expressions are emerging, mostly technology/digitally-driven and not fully explained by classical psychopathology, particularly among young digitarians.

Innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches propose the integration of advanced digital solutions (e.g., digital phenotyping, robotics, metaverse, AI etc.).

The course will address the complex interplay between technology and mental health in the modern world. The course will discuss the new psychopathological trajectories due to the digital world, by providing a critical overview on the behavioral addictions, discussing the dilemma of new ‘digital’ addictions, the pathological threshold between problematic and culturally/socially-accepted use of new technologies and new emerging psychopathological trajectories.

Finally, a section will provide an overview on innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches such as digital tools and interventions including the potentials of AI.